ANGER AS GRACE
"He looked around at them in anger . . . " Mark 3:5In the 1940s lawmakers in Montgomery, Alabama, wrote city bus regulations to minimize contact between white and black passengers. One humiliating law prohibited blacks from walking through the white section of the bus to their own seats in the back. So blacks had to pay their fare at the front, exit the bus, and then walk outside to reenter at the rear door. Some white bus drivers amused themselves by driving away before the black passengers could reboard. The trouble was not that blacks got angry but that whites did not.
Maybe some of us ought to get angry more often. Today's text is a plea for holy anger. To live a life of grace, we need to get "fed up" for the reasons Jesus did. Jesus and his followers throughout history have gotten angry when the poor are mistreated, when widows suffer injustice, when people suffer needlessly, and when someone tries to tear down a good church.
Of course, we need to be careful. Anger is like nitroglycerin. It can do immense damage if handled wrongly. Folks with uncontrolled anger can inflict heavy damage on people and organizations. The Pharisees' anger led them to plan a killing. Jesus' anger led him to heal.
Grace-full anger still heals. It can restore a city or school or family or church to health.
What kind of anger do you have?
PRAYER
Father, give us holy anger. When it is called for, give us the kind of anger that builds up and does not tear down. Asking for your wisdom, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Source 引用自無的部落格看似有卻空無, 看似無卻萬有。
怒氣中的恩典
「耶穌怒目周圍看他們⋯⋯」 馬可3:5
在1940年代，美國阿拉巴馬州蒙戈馬利的立法者制訂了市區巴士法，以盡量隔離黑白乘客。其中一條羞辱性的法例，是禁止黑人穿越巴士上的白人座位區，走到他們在後部的黑人座位區。因此，黑人要走上巴士前門先付車資，然後下車，走到巴士後門再上車。有些白人巴士司機為了自娛，在黑人乘客在後門再上車前就開車走了。問題並不是在於黑人動了怒氣，而是白人不曾動怒。「耶穌怒目周圍看他們⋯⋯」 馬可3:5
也許我們當中有的人需要多生一些氣。今天所讀的經文懇求我們為義動怒。要過恩典的生活，我們需要「厭惡」耶穌所厭惡的。古往今來，當窮人遭苦待，寡婦遇上不公，人民無辜地受苦，有人試圖拆毀美好的教會，耶穌和祂的追隨者們都會動怒。
當然，我們要小心。怒氣如同炸藥，一旦處理不當，便會釀成莫大損害；不受控制的怒氣會嚴重損害人或者組織。法利賽人的怒氣促使他們密謀殺人，但耶穌的怒氣則促使祂醫治。
滿有恩典的怒氣可以醫治，可以使城市、學校、家庭或教會重得健康。
你有的是哪種怒氣呢？
禱告
父啊，求祢賜我們義怒；在有需要動怒時，賜我們那建立而非拆毀的怒氣。我們奉耶穌的名祈求祢賜給我們智慧，阿們。
